


Probably Not On Purpose

by Frea_O



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Extremis, Gen, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, Post Iron Man 3, SHIELD, Sparring, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2013-05-09
Packaged: 2017-12-10 21:06:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/790167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frea_O/pseuds/Frea_O
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time she sees Pepper Potts as Natalie Rushman again, Pepper throws her through a wall.</p>
<p>It’s an accident. Or Natasha hopes it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Probably Not On Purpose

Natasha gets the call twelve seconds after she disarms the bomb that would’ve turned parts of Italy into an island and thinks, _Can’t even give me a damned minute to myself, can you, Fury?_

What she says into the phone is, “Romanoff.”

“We’ve got a situation. How soon can you get to New York?”

Fury’s never been one for small talk and it’s been 96 hours in hell for her, either trapped in the catacombs or fighting off the rest of the Seventh League and, oh yeah, disarming dirty bombs in the middle of the Colosseum. “What for?”

“Just get to the airport.”

Natasha pushes back the strands of hair that have stuck to her sweaty forehead, wishes she has time for a shower but knows she won’t, and says, “Yes, sir.” On the cab ride to the airport, she finally gets a chance to look at social media for the first time in nearly a week.

It seems that while she was preserving the Eternal City, they’d finally caught the Mandarin. Well, Tony Stark had.

She suddenly has a suspicion about why she’s going to New York.

* * *

The first time she sees Pepper Potts as Natalie Rushman again, Pepper throws her through a wall.

It’s an accident. Or Natasha hopes it is. She can never be sure with Pepper—for somebody as open and up-front as Pepper _seems_ , there are layers upon layers buried there, twisted into a mind that’s just as bright as Tony Stark’s. But judging by the look Pepper gives her, hands flapping by her face and pure horror in her eyes as she exclaims that she didn’t mean to do that, it’s probably not on purpose. So she wipes at her bloody nose, picks herself up, and says, “I can see why Fury wanted me in New York.”

Pepper just looks sort of miserable. “Tony’s trying to fix it.”

“Fix what, exactly?” and Natasha finally gets the full story.

* * *

It makes sense. The cover’s already there, and it’s easy to slip into Natalie’s Louboutins and arrange Pepper’s schedule. In another life, Natasha thinks sometimes, she’d be a personal assistant full time.

Pepper was one that taught her that assistants hold the power, after all, and Natasha’s definitely attracted to power.

Unfortunately, there are other things assistants have to deal with. Idiots, mostly. Your boss’s annoying boyfriend who won’t leave his lab and forgets to eat and sleep, and compares you to angry bees. Dealing with your boss’s sudden temper, which has the ability to literally level buildings.

But Natasha mostly gets by.

Mostly.

She’s never had quite this many bloody noses before. While Tony’s fixing Extremis, Pepper has to regulate, which means exercise, eating right, keeping healthy, keeping fighting trim. Natasha’s not one to let an opportunity to learn from a superior fighter—Extremis is _fucking amazing_ —go to waste, and Pepper needs a workout, so it works out for both of them, mostly. It’s amusing to Natasha how many times Pepper feels the need to apologize.

Natasha does not tell her that she likes the pain, that her personality seeks it. It’s not a secret that’s meant for the two of them.

* * *

“It’s nice,” Pepper says after one of their sessions.

They’re in the industrial-size freezer in Stark Tower. Natasha figures it’s more efficient than icing her entire body and Pepper needs to cool down.

“What is?” she asks.

“That the men aren’t the most powerful people in the room, for once.”

Natasha looks at the CEO of Stark Industries, who has thrown her through another wall and could probably take on the Hulk by herself now. “They never were,” she says.

Pepper just nods, looking surprised, like she’s startled to have forgotten that.

* * *

“I’ve got it!” Tony says, running into Pepper’s office, and the disappointment Natasha feels is genuine.


End file.
